Letter-opener.



H. HESSE.

LETTER OPENER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 3!. 19m.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

in dotted lines;

cal section on line 22 with much mail. Furthermore,

HERMAN HESSE, OF EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

LETTER-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented se 7, 1915.

Application filed March 31, 1915. Serial N 0. 18,211;

To all whom. it may concern Be it known that I, HERMAN Hnssn, asubjectof the Emperor of Germany, residing at Easton', in the county ofNorthampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Letter-Openers, specification.

The present invention relates to envelop openers and has for its objectto provide a device that is adapted to be loosely placed between thefolds of-a letter or papers contained in an envelop or wrapper, so thatwhen the same arrives at its destination it can be quickly and neatlytorn open, thus facilitating the opening of the mail.

Letter openers of similar characters have beenknown but the same as faras am aware have been attached to the envelop. This isobjectionablebecause the process of attaching the deviceto the envelopcauses loss of time, which becomes considerable the particular fasteningmeans of the device adds to the weight of the letter or parcel and renofwhich the following is a ders the cost of manufacture of the openersomewhat expensive.

To obviate these drawbacks is the object of my invention. 4

My invention will be clearly understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawing, in which similar reference characters denote correspondingparts and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a sealed envelop onwhich my new device is shown Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertiof Fig. '1;Figs. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate difl'erent modifications of my device.

The device consists of a flat member a of any suitable light and more-orless rigid material, preferably paste board or the like, This member maybe made in any'suitable shape, such as in form of a square (Fig. 1), v

ring (Fig. 3), circular disk (Fig. 4)-or'triangle (Fig. 5). member is acord 6 (Figs. 1-3), ribbon (Fig. 4), or wire (Fig.6), made slightlylonger than the length of that edge of the envelop or wrapper alongwhich it is to extend.

Suitably attached to said,

The flat member a is adapted to be placed loosely between the folds of aletter 0 orv papers and near one of the side edges of the folded parts.The flexible member I), as cord, ribbon or wire is folded over the backof the fold to extend along the same and to project outwardly from theopposite side of the envelop d or wrapper containing the letter orpapers. When the envelop or wrapper, having been sealed, is received atits-destination, the same can be quickly and neatly torn open by pullingon the protruding end of the ribbon, cord or wire, as indicated in Fig.1.v

The flat'rigid piece a of my device may be utilized for advertisingpurposes or for various kinds of announcements or the like, as indicatedin Figs. 3 and 4.

If made of a solid piece as in Figs. 1, 4 and 5, the same may have aperforation through which the cord, ribbon or wire may be passed to betied to the piece 0.

In operation the flat rigid part is held from sliding by leaning againstthe fold of the letter or parcel.

The rigid piece may, of course,'be made of such-dimensions as the sizeof the envelop. In that case it may be used without any letters, etc.-,and may itself serve as a medium for correspondence,

in form of advertising cards, business cards,

I, or the like.

Because of its simple, inexpensive construction and its adaptability asa medium for advertising announcements or.similar purposes, my devicebecomes a very useful article.

What I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

. 1. An envelop opener, consisting of a rigid part of light material anda flexible member connected at one end thereto, said rigid partv servingas anchorage for said flexible member and being adapted to be placedloosely into the envelop and the flexible member to be folded so as toextend from said anchorage toward the opposite end of and along the edgeof the envelop which is to be torn open and to protrude with its freeend outwardly from the sealed envelop.

2. The combination with a folded letterto correspond with 4 or the likeand an envelop o r Wrapper containing the same, of a flat rigid pieceand a. flexible member connected to said piece, said piece being adaptedto be loosely placed between the folded contents of the envelop orwrapper, and said flexible member to be folded so as to extend towardthe opposite end of said piece and over the back of the

